(Part 2) Top products from r/nfl

First of all, there's nothing that can replace watching games. Watch football! I recommend NFL GameRewind so you can watch the games with no commercials, get the All-22 tape, and get basic access to DVR features. GamePass is expensive and unnecessary at first, and I watched my local team for years with no cable -- plain old over-the-air TV plus a local affiliate that broadcasts every Ravens game was enough. So watch football! I also recommend these sources:

=Books=

I watched two or three seasons of football before I read the following books, and I really wish I'd had the foresight to begin reading as soon as I became a fan. I recommend reading Take Your Eye Off the Ball by Pat Kirwan first, because it teaches you how to watch the games you'll be seeing this season, especially how to "read" a defense like a QB would. You'll begin to be able to see when a defense is "showing blitz" or an offense is "showing run". You might also want to get a fast-forward introduction to the history of the game so you understand where the current traditions come from. Scores of books and blogs dig into the history of the game but I think Jaworski et al's Seven Games that Changed the Game and Chris Brown's The Essential Smart Football are both great reads. The latter you can effectively preview by reading his work at www.SmartFootball.com .

=Blogs=

Nobody writes about football as well as the guys at Grantland; the article I've linked there is one of my favorites. It goes into the history of the game and helps you place the current game in context. Brian Burke's Advanced NFL Stats is a more analytics-focused look at the game; his greatest contribution to the game (in my opinion) is his evidence-based chart for 4th down decisions. A lot of other sites focus on Fantasy Football because that's where you can make a ton of money -- hundreds of thousands of hungry gamers every Sunday and Monday. Honestly, Fantasy Football scores have almost no relevance to the strategy of the real game, and I'll say no more about that hobby.

=Other References=

If you're trying to figure out whether a particular performance was mediocre, good, great, or execrable, you want to look it up at Pro Football Reference. If you're trying to understand a piece of football jargon, check out Wikipedia's American Football Strategy, which is a good read on its own and contains sub-articles on the differences between a 4-3 and 3-4. Pro Football Focus had a great piece on defensive personnel prototypes that will help you sort out what people mean by things like "He's a great 0-technique NT for a team that does hybrid 3-4." Ordinarily I'd say you want to know the rules before any of that, but honestly I watched the game for years before I ever needed to consult the rulebook.

A Fan's Notes while not so much an in depth football book as it is a literary work, A Fan's Notes is still a brilliant read for any football fan. Deals with the authors alcoholism, nihilism, the bizarre relation a fan has to his team, and the fear of spending ones life on the sidelines of the action. An all around excellent read. It does have some nice insight to the 60's Giants as well.

Some other more traditional books I'd recommend would When Pride Still Mattered, Run to daylight, Instant Replay, and for one none packer book: Badasses. All four of those provide excellent looks into storied franchises at their best, and When Pride Still Mattered is the definitive book for the NFLs greatest coach.

Thanks OP, I've been meaning to make this thread for awhile now and I love reading books about football and sports in general. I really do heavily recommend A Fan's Notes though, that novel is excellent.

And while I'm still here I guess, even though it isn't football, I'll quickly recommend A Season on the Brink as one of the greatest sports books ever.

EDIT: On the off chance anyone takes an interest in this I have lots more I could recommend.

The Raiders.

They're just so cool. The uniforms, logo, and name are badass. I don't know what it is, but the fact their colours are silver and black just really sticks with me. I remember watching one of the NFL Super Bowl champ rundown and they mentioned Al Davis always checking the uniforms to make sure they were silver, not grey.

On the topic, Al Davis was such a badass.

> He remains the only executive in NFL history to be an assistant coach, head coach, general manager, commissioner and owner.

• He was also active in civil rights:
  
  > refusing to allow the Raiders to play in any city where black and white players had to stay in separate hotels. He was the first NFL owner to hire an African American head coach and a female chief executive. He was also the second NFL owner to hire a Latino head coach.
  
  
• His motto, 'Just win, baby'.
  
  
• John Madden coached them and reading his book was really fun.
  
  
• Raider nation.
  
  
• The Black Hole. Talk about intimidating.
  
  
• Howie Long is one of my favourite ever players. Started after I read Maddens book.
  
  
• Bo Jackson. I'm 21 and didn't grow up in the States much, and I had vaguely heard of Bo. Watching his 30 for 30 was beautiful.
  
  
• Seen as working class team with an aggressive play style (historically).
  
  ---
  
  ^^I ^^also ^^think ^^the ^^ ^^49ers ^^are ^^cool.
  
  ---
  
  EDIT: For those interested, John Maddens book is called 'One Knee Equals Two Feet'. Here's a link for it on Amazon. It's quite old, but still a stonking great read.
  
  Also that word reminded me of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Buy it as well.
  
  EDIT 2: "If you're buying any of the books mentioned in these comments, Amazon has a physical book sale today. 30% off, use promo code HOLIDAY30" - thanks to /u/Mandarinez.
  
  EDIT 3: If you're interested in some Raider history check out Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders by Peter Richmond. - thanks to /u/Imaygetyelledat.

The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty
https://www.amazon.com/Genius-Reinvented-Football-Created-Dynasty/dp/0345499123/ref=sr_1_74?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475238145&sr=1-74&keywords=nfl+book

Jaws might be loudmouthed idiot on tv, but he co-authored a pretty darn good book
The Games That Changed the Game: The Evolution of the NFL in Seven Sundays
https://www.amazon.com/Games-That-Changed-Game-Evolution/dp/0345517962/ref=sr_1_67?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475238131&sr=1-67&keywords=nfl+book

And all hail Belichick
War Room: The Legacy of Bill Belichick and the Art of Building the Perfect Team
https://www.amazon.com/War-Room-Belichick-Building-Perfect/dp/006208240X/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475238058&sr=1-11&keywords=nfl+book

The Education of a Coach
https://www.amazon.com/Education-Coach-David-Halberstam/dp/1401308791/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475238301&sr=1-1&keywords=david+halberstam+belichick

Pretty funny insight into players perspective:

The Rookie Handbook: How to Survive the First Season in the NFL
https://www.amazon.com/Rookie-Handbook-Survive-First-Season/dp/1682450341/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1475237975&sr=8-4&keywords=nfl+book

Also Pete Carrolls book Win Forever is an excellent read.
It has more to do with his Trojan days, but is a very clear telling of his coaching philosophy and why he has succeeded in Seattle. That man knows how to connect with people.

That's one of the contributing factors of Football IQ, and the very basics. Other than that, you have to know what defender is going to do what in which system.
There are QBs who also determine blocking schemes for their line. They say which blocking scheme to apply for which play, and switch them up if need be.
Very, very basically, a spread offense spreads out the defense across the width of the field, instead of bunching everything together around the ball. If you spread the defense out, there are bound to be more holes. That could mean putting 4 or even 5 WRs out away from the Oline (hence, wide), for instance.
A lot of the times, they add in the read option in that play. If a certain defender goes into coverage or for the HB, the QB keeps the ball and runs through the gaps of the defense. If the defender stands pat, the QB hands it off to the HB (or throws).
There are some great books that explain a lot of these things. A few I would definitely recommend are (in order of how deep they go into stuff):

• Take Your Eye Off the Ball
  
• The Essential Smart Football
  
• Blood, Sweat and Chalk, which is slightly more advanced but the best out of the three. It dives into the history of the game. Absolutely fascinating!
  
  And Arians' book, The Quarterback Whisperer goes into the practicallities of making the jump from college to the pro's. It's a marvellous read!
  
  Edit: formatting
  

Amazon link.

Great book! Despite being a football official and a longtime fan, this book was a great and educational read. He does a great job of making it easy to read for knowledgeable fans as well as new ones.

You are someone who would really appreciate the information in the book Scorecasting
. I'll be perfectly honest and say that I'm not a huge reader, I have mild dyslexia and it's a bit of a chore. That said, I couldn't put this book down. They do talk, in depth, about the defense wins championships cliche.

Madden '08 for PC

with new rosters and portraits HERE.

I love this game. I've been playing it for years and it's still fun. I'm playing the Jags right now, Bortles has all the NFL records, and is handing off to Sankey (who also has a shit ton of records). Got Odell and Mike Evans running some beautiful routes for me too. Highly recommend :)

This is true. Brady was making a lot of noise in camp and preseason that year, but the Patriots had just handed Bledsoe a big 10 year contract. Belichick liked Brady a lot, but knew that starting him over Bledsoe would lead to mutiny from fans and ownership.

When the injury to Bledsoe happened, it ended up being the perfect circumstances to see if Brady could compete as a starter. And the rest is history. I highly recommend the Brady vs Manning book to any NFL fan; it dives into more detail about how Brady's career developed as opposed to Manning's.

I know there is already a book, but that 30 for 30 would be fantastic. I bet they want to wait for Brady to retire because at that point their legacies won't change anymore and they can decide a champion.

Where to start....

You're OK It's Just a Bruise - A Doctor's Sideline Secrets About Pro Football's Most Outrageous Team by Rob Huizenga. As a team doctor for the Raiders during the 80s, Huizenga has access to Al Davis, Howie Long, Lyle Alzado, and others. Another in a long line of books that shows player medical treatment is poor.

Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football by Dan Moldea. Eye opening stuff about the connections between the owners and the mafia. It raises suspicions on rigged games in the history of the NFL and also goes into the gambling connections.

Bringing the Heat by Mark Bowden. A great book about the Eagles of the early 90s. It goes into the lack of injury treatment, follows Reggie White and Buddy Ryan, and touches on Jerome Brown's death and it's impact to the team.

Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty by Jeff Pearlman. I grew up hating the 90s Cowboys, but it was nice to read about the inside of that team. The book goes into the personalities, the Jones-Johnson clash, the Irvin - McIver stabbing, and the cocaine houses.

The Dark Side of the Game by Tim Green. Another great book that goes into detail about drug tests, injuries, treatment, and everything that goes on in an NFL locker room. One of my favorites.

Happy to Be Alive by Darryl Stingley. This is an autobiography of receiver Darryl Stingley chronicling his life before and after the paralyzing hit by Jack Tatum.

Meat on a Hoof by Gary Shaw. It talks about college football at UT in the 70s. The treatment of the players was pretty shocking to read. This is one you can find cheaper in a used bookstore.

Since this stat is total adjusted yards, the multipliers convert every non-yardage value into yards. So touchdowns = 20 yards, interceptions = -45 yards, fumbles = -50 yards, etc.

All those values have been around since The Hidden Game of Football in 1988. Pretty much every advanced stat today utilizes those same multiplier values.

This book, although old, is full of awesome anecdotes, strategy and technique analysis. Can't recommend it enough.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0671602764
I would honestly shy away from madden unless you know literally nothing. While you learn what plays are and that kind of thing it really doesn't teach you strategy. It's just nice to know when you play.

best football book of all time written by this guy: "The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football".

I had to find an old beaten up copy second hand years ago, I don't know if it's easier to find now.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Mans-Guide-Professional-Football/dp/0671602764 Looks pretty expensive on here

Piggybacking to provide Amazon links:

• The Essential Smart Football by Chris B. Brown
  
  
• Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look by Pat Kirwan
  
  
• Football Scouting Methods by Steve Belichick
  
  
• The Games That Changed the Game: The Evolution of the NFL in Seven Sundays by Ron Jaworski
  
  ...and also to add a couple of homer suggestions of my own:
  
  
• Brady vs Manning: The Untold Story of the Rivalry That Transformed the NFL by Gary Myers
  
  
• Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time by Ian O'Connor

If you're looking for a nice alternative, try this: NFL Films - The Power and the Glory.

I have it and it is a GREAT CD to listen to on game days or if you're tailgating. You can find most, if not all, of the tacks on YouTube if you wanted to take a listen.

Sounds like you may enjoy the Hidden Game of Football and it may help you with your formula.

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Game-Football-Bob-Carroll/dp/0446514144

This book is awesome:

https://www.amazon.com/Games-That-Changed-Game-Evolution/dp/0345517962

Has a whole chapter dedicated to Belichick

When Pride Still Mattered is one of the best football books around.

Also, What it Takes to be Number One.

It's dated now, but still one of the great books about NFL football: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football by Paul Zimmerman

What I don't understand, is why they haven't been able to computerize Madden's voice for the video game. They should have been able to pull all the audio they have of him (which should be thousands of hours) and piece it together to allow them to use it in the current games.

It would be great. I miss him in the game and in real life.

If you get a chance, check out his book"One Knee equals two feet".

Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto

It goes into the long term health effects and other negative externalities of football and then at the end suggests some minor changes in the interest of looking out for players of all ages. A quick, interesting read that definitely made me rethink how much I cheer for those huge hits and what these people are putting on the line for my entertainment. I'm not going to give up on watching like the author did but even just being more conscious of these issues has changed how I approach watching football.

If you like the writing style of Michael Lewis, you need to check out this book. Lewis wrote a fantastic book on a way to look at baseball that no fan had ever seen before. He based his hugely successful baseball book on The Hidden Game of Football, now out of print but available used.

For pure storytelling, you have to read "When Pride Still Mattered". This biography of Vince Lombardi is nothing short of a masterpiece, and it's no surprise. It's written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author in a style very different from most bio works.

The New Thinking Man's Guide to Professional Football. While this is an out of print book from 1985, it's brilliant, still relevant, and very well written.

reddit.com/r/footballstrategy/wiki

The Games that Changed the Game

Take your eyes off the ball

Blood Sweat and Chalk

are all great if you want to get into detail

Pretty sure the answers are here: https://www.amazon.com/If-I-Did-Confessions-Killer/dp/0825305934

http://www.amazon.com/Interference-Organized-Influences-Professional-Football/dp/068808303X

People don't realize it is completely legal for the NFL to fix its matches. This book is a little old (80s I think) but still has a lot of good info in it.

Here is a video of the author explaining it

One knee equals two feet by John Madden is probably incredibly outdated but useful breakdown of the rules for the casual fan. He gets a lot of shit (deservedlyish) for being a buffoon in his later years but the man knows and incredible amount about the game and how to pass that along to the uninitiated so to speak.

Start by reading this blog:

http://smartfootball.com/

Next, read these two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Offensive-Football-Strategies-American-Association/dp/0736001395

http://www.amazon.com/Defensive-Football-Strategies-American-Association/dp/0736001425

Note that both of these books target high school coaching strategies, so they're relatively basic and don't go into a lot of detail.

Finally, go through this list of resources:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82a6d39d/article/summer-reading-our-favorite-football-books

If you're still itching for material on strategy, look at books about the great coaches. There is a good one about Bill Walsh, but I don't recall the name of it.

Once football season starts, every sunday before the games start, I listen through all of Sam Spence's The Power and the Glory. The actual track "The Power and the Glory" gets me pumped every time.

I'd recommend checking out Take Your Eye Off The Ball. It's a solid introduction to some of the more subtle aspects of football that don't usually come across in the broadcast.

TL;DR there is a prominent Twitter troll called @Jameis1of1 who is a staunch Jameis defender and even wrote a 400 page book called Jameis Derangement Syndrome. A sports podcast did some sleuthing and found an uncanny resemblance in Jameis1of1 and Jason Licht's voice, and also some coincidences in how Jameis1of1 doesn't tweet during games. A redditor here tried to do 2-step verification on the Jameis 1of1 account and found that 2 digits of the phone number matched Jason Licht's.

Paul Zimmerman's Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football is a must read for serious fans. He does a step by step breakdown of the adjustments defenses and offenses have made from the start of the game to the 80s. It's a great basic starting point.

>do you have any recommendations how to get in the sport?

John Madden's book from the 80's called "One Knee Equals Two Feet and Everything Else You Need to Know About Football" is a good resource for beginners.

https://www.amazon.com/One-Knee-Equals-Two-Feet/dp/0394553284

"If I did it: Confessions of the killer"

which like, come on..

I really want to buy this thing, but it's somewhat more pricy than I would like. There's some good shit there though. Maybe I'll eventually settle for this.

Vikings fan?

https://www.amazon.com/NFL-Minnesota-Vikings-Garden-Gnome/dp/B001CZJFT4

Amazon Digital Download for 9.99

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Arts-70301-Madden-Download/dp/B007XXEG5C

And here's where you want to get your mods from: http://www.footballidiot.com

Indeed. But like I said, there have been a number of studies.

Thomas Dohmen published a paper that demonstrated that Bundesliga referees are less influenced by the home crowd in stadiums where there's a track around the field than where they exists no separation between the field and the crowd. This has been extrapolated as a reason why referees in the NBA, where there's no separation at all between the game and the fans, overwhelming favor the home team... I think it's talked about in the book Scorecasting but I don't remember for sure.

Here's a piece on how HCA has declined in the NBA over time, which it attributes to a number of factors, such as the rise in three-point attempts diminishing the impact of referees. Not really a study so much as a piece put together by the stats department.

Et. al.

Not sure - can't really find the author's name. Heres a link to it on Amazon though.

Defensive Football Strategies (American Football Coaches Association) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0736001425/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_bCGnDb7C9CZNY

Here ya go

NFL Films CD

Autumn Thunder would be a start.

There was a chapter about this in the book Scorecasting.

https://www.amazon.com/Autumn-Thunder-Years-Films-Music/dp/B0002VERQA/

https://www.amazon.com/If-I-Did-Confessions-Killer/dp/0825305934

For those that don't frequent /r/minnesotavikings, we have moved on to a new Purple Jesus

ADRIAN, I'LL GIVE YOU ONE OF MINE IF YOU COME BACK.

The book Scorecasting did a breakdown and found what sosuhme said. I don't have the book near me at the moment or else I'd take a picture or something.

Amazon. It's $10.

From an NFL player's perspective, it got to be If I Did It by OJ Simpson.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728

He wrote them years ago:

http://www.amazon.com/Hey-Wait-Minute-Wrote-Book/dp/0345325079/ref=la_B000APKRD0_1_3_twi_cas_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449813948&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/One-Knee-Equals-Two-Feet/dp/0394553284/ref=la_B000APKRD0_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449813948&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/One-Size-Doesnt-Fit-All/dp/0394563131/ref=la_B000APKRD0_1_4_twi_tex_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449813948&sr=1-4

Seems relevant

American Football Coaches Association has a series of books that are very instructional:

• Football Strategies
  
• Offensive Strategies
  
• Defensive Strategies

On Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Against-Football-Fans-Reluctant-Manifesto/dp/161219415X

Have I got a book for you!

Got you covered

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041

Jameis Winston

Here are the spice packets. 1 gallon per packet. I usually go a little less on the recommended water for meatier chili. Miles better than that shit in a can. https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Cincinnati-Chili-Mix-Packets/dp/B000B6O4LO

Quick, someone get Dogra's address and buy him a gnome. That will cheer his grumpy ass up!

I'm a big proponent of killing the sports/warrior culture that still pervades modern society. But this guy doesn't get to that point. It doesn't read like he has any depth to his arguments beyond the basic surface-scratching. Even the reviews on Amazon that like the book complain about lack of depth.

You can't kill a sports culture, and you most definitely can't hide your children from it, simply by turning off the games. It's an enormous topic that covers politics, society, sociology, anthropology, psychology, health and fitness, and other topics as well.

But this book reads like one guy ranting on why he turned off his TV, and not (what it should have been) a man bringing a logical and expanded argument against a paradigm.

Said gnome for those who've never seen its glory: http://www.amazon.com/NFL-Minnesota-Vikings-Garden-Gnome/dp/B001CZJFT4

On a different note than everyone else here I recommend The Fix Is In by Brian Tuohy which covers how show business influences various sporting leagues. And also Interference by Dan E. Moldea which covers how gambling and organized crime influences the NFL.

Crock pot. 12 hours low. 2 lbs beef lightly browned. Tobasco. Chili mix

The negative reviews are, if anything, even weirder.

They can't seem to shut up about crab legs (the cover also mentions the crab leg thing) and are all written in the same really weird style.

I think this fellow might have actually written all the negative reviews of his book too, for whatever demented reason.

>the famous 4th Down study that introduced the idea of expected points

Not sure which study that is, but Expected Points were introduced no later than 1988, when The Hidden Game of Football was published.

https://www.amazon.ca/Brady-Manning-Untold-Rivalry-Transformed/dp/0804139393

also no one said that Manning and Belichick would be bad or be some drama filled partnership, I said it would work less well than the current combination. And even ignoring football, irl two alpha males work less well together.

The pro-PFF circlejerk is even dumber.

If you can't see the massive flaws in their methodology, I don't know what to tell you.

"We came up with a flawed system and asked 10 people if they could tell the difference between different criteria taken totally out of context."

Do you ever go to /r/conspiracy or /r/conspiratard?

Have you ever seen these people use math out of nowhere?

Have you ever seen the people who try to get numbers out of the bible to predict when Jesus is coming back?

And of course he never comes back, does he?

But these people just keep moving the goalposts.

It doesn't matter because the initial thing is flawed.

PFF are trying to defend themselves and it's laughable. This is a wakeup call for them. "Fuck, if our system grades him that badly, is there a flaw in it? Naah, let's fucking double down and repeat ourselves over and over again. That's how they do it in fundamentalist religions. How can we get the math to show only the facts that support our point?"

I have said this since PFF came on the scene: their analysis is worthless because it can't account for context and moving parts. Grading something that is inherently flawed doesn't provide you a reliable observation just because you can repeat the flaw ad nauseum.

Look I get it - you like PFF. People like to take things that sound authoritative on faith. Not everyone is anti-authoritarian. But FFS, you don't have to be. All you need to do is open your eyes and say "wow, if they downgraded him under pressure, how is the pressure he was facing on the poorly graded play different than someone who got a good grade under pressure when...the weather was different. Fatigue was different. The players were all totally different. Down, distance, score, time on the clock were all different."

How many relevant criteria do I need to name for you until you admit that what they're trying to do is impossible? It's an insult that they would attempt to sell us snake oil in this way, as if their use of statistics makes it true.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728/

Put this on your wishlist. I will buy it for you.